Packaging of small articles for shipping often relies on the use of a simple rectangular box filled with various types of filler materials such as well known Styrofoam "peanuts," popcorn, foam rubber, expanded starch packing material, etc. Each of these packing materials, however, is unhandy in that they create debris which preferably is recycled but often is not. Storage of the packing material prior to use consumes storage space. Most shipping costs are based on weight and, although the weight of most of the noted packing materials is quite small, there seems little reason to pay for it.
There are a number of patents showing containers which maintain and protect the articles to be packaged away from the walls of the container during shipping. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,184 to Ryno et al. shows a cylindrical package in which the object to be protected is suspended between the two ends of a cylinder by a twisted plastic tube. The plastic tube is twisted tied above and below the article and held in tension in the center of the tube during shipping.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,301, to Bluemel, shows a shock-proof packing container having a rectagonal outer carton and a polygonal inner support member. The polygonal support member is configured in such a way that it fits snugly inside the outer carton and in turn supports a flexible sling. The articles to be shipped are wrapped in the sling and are suspended in the interior both of polygonal inner member and the rectangular outer box.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,967, to Gonzales, shows a packaging device also formed of an outside container and having a removable inner platform which, via the use of folded and integrated spacers, causes the object to be protected to be spaced apart from the walls of the container. The object to be shipped is held against the inner platform by, for instance, a plastic bag which envelops the object and that bag passes through an orifice within the support platform and is attached in some fashion to the edge of that platform. Other variations of protective packaging found in the prior art are also discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,967.
It is therefore desirable to provide a packaging component for protecting an article to be packaged and for spacing the article away from the walls of an exterior container. It is also desirable to provide a packaging component which eliminates or minimizes the need for filler materials, is recyclable, light weight, and requires only a relatively small volume for storage